Obama: ‘I’m not a particularly ideological person’

Alex Pappas

Alex Pappas is a Washington D.C.-based political reporter for The Daily Caller. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and the Mobile Press-Register. Pappas is a graduate of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where he was editor-in-chief of The Sewanee Purple. While in college, he did internships at NBC's Meet the Press and the White House. He grew up in Mobile, Ala., where he graduated from St. Paul's Episcopal School. He and his wife live on Capitol Hill.

President Barack Obama said during a fundraiser at a mansion with Democrats on Sunday night that he is “not a particularly ideological person” — a claim surely to be mocked by conservatives.

“I’m not a particularly ideological person,” Obama said during a Seattle fundraiser with a handful of notable Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel.

Obama’s claim comes as his landmark health-care law — passed through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote — has come under fire.

The president has seen his approval ratings drop to below under 40 percent since the Oct. 1 implementation of Obamacare — which has been rocked by Americans losing coverage, seeing higher premiums and having trouble using the HealthCare.gov website to enroll in the exchanges.

But on Sunday night, according to a pool report on the event, Obama argued he is “pragmatic” and not “ideological” during his 10 minutes worth of remarks.

“There are things I’m passionate about, but I’m pretty pragmatic as to how we get it,” Obama said.

The president added “if you strip away politics, there’s actually a pretty broad consensus in this country,” on things like investing in childhood education, new infrastructure, science and immigration reform.

Obama also predicted that Democrats would win back control of the House and Pelosi would once again be speaker. “Our once speaker and soon to be speaker again, Nancy Pelosi,” Obama said of the California Democrat.

While saying he wants to work in a bipartisan manner, Obama also blamed Republicans for stopping his agenda in Congress.

“The biggest barrier and impediment we have right now is the Congress, and in particular the House of Representatives, that is not focused on getting the job done for the American people and is a lot more focused on trying to position themselves [for] the next election,” Obama said.

“That’s unfortunate because that’s not what the American people are looking for.”